Luke Marusiak - Lifeboat Moon

“I think that’s a bad idea,” Doug said. “That seam has been a problem since before the pod crash.”

“I remember. I personally fixed a leak on that seam. But this is different. Gitty said something caused the seam to crack from floor to ceiling.”

“Vibration would do it.”

“But the vibration happened weeks ago — right after the crash.”

“I think it’s like a crack on a car window. It starts small and then expands as you drive it.”

“You think people working in the Manufacturing Pod caused enough vibration to open the seam that wide?”

“I do. It might be sealed now but start messing around in there again and look out.”

Sally wrestled with her thoughts. She wanted, above all else, a slight modicum of security, a slight comfort that when she inhaled her lungs would fill with sweet air. Of all the dire problems of food, water, and air; air was by far the biggest concern and the one that could doom them in an instant. Doug’s insistence that the Manufacturing Pod seam could risk their precious air supply hit the mark. “Okay, before we work in there, we need to satisfy ourselves that it’s well sealed but I’m still going to get the pressure up to 760 Torr.”

Doug was irritated but didn’t object. “I’ll take care of it. During our shift overlap, you should get our away teams back.”

“Thad’s on his way from the backside of the crater with the medical equipment he retrieved from the destroyed med-bay and Jim’s finishing up the last of the plexiglass sections. Jim and his team are outside the hangar now.”

“What about Mark?”

“Mark is in the cave with Yumi. They have half of the cave’s mouth already sealed.”

“How’s the mapping going?”

“Two branches are fully mapped. Those branches alone provide more space than Moon Base Armstrong and Japan Station combined. The third branch promised to be as large as the second. Director Hayashi expects the cave mouth to be sealed and Cave Branch Three to be fully mapped in the next two days.”

“Do you trust our Japan Station colleagues?”

“I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Maybe Japan Station and Director Collier were in cahoots about a culling plan for both stations.”

“I doubt it but, if it makes you feel better, I’ll ask. We’re trying to make a base for humanity’s survival over generations. That only makes sense if we treat every human life as precious. If you think about it, we may be the only complex life left in the universe.”

“You never gave any stock to the intelligent aliens of 2001: A Space Odyssey?”

“I believe what I can prove. For all our discovery of the vastness of the universe we’ve never found a single instance of intelligence outside ourselves.”

“Yeah, and we’ve never found an instance of God either but I’ll bet most of our crew still believes.”

“No harm in that. It’s good to think we were spared for a great purpose.”

“Great purpose? We’re scraping along by eating bland food, breathing manufactured air, and waiting for one more disaster to end it all.”

“We must prevent that disaster.”

“The die may have already been cast.”

The hangar hatch light blinked announcing Jim’s and the tube construction team’s arrival. “That’s one team back. Let’s depressurize the load lock.”

“You know every time we do that, we use irreplaceable air. That’s why I was careful with the Manufacturing Pod.”

“That’s why we manufacture oxygen and recycle carbon dioxide. I’ll meet them as they enter the hangar.” Sally lifted her equipment belt from her chair, strapped it on, and bounded down to the hangar just as Jim entered the load lock. She waited for the lock to pressurize and then opened the hatch.

Jim and his tube assembly team came into the hangar. Even before they got their spacesuits off Sally could see spring in their steps and hear the ebullience on their communications channels. This was a team satisfied about work well done. They believe, Sally thought, that we can all make it and that they’re contributing to our survival. Once Jim and the others got their spacesuits off, she saw the flushed smiling faces and took heart.

“The tube’s in place and we sealed the floor as we went along. There’s a connection piece right outside of Moon Base Armstrong and it goes to the foot of the stairs that lead to the cave.” Jim was pleased. “They said it would take two days and we did it in one. Now we need to work the stair covering.” He laughed. “When we finish this, you’ll be able to walk in your underwear from Moon Base Armstrong to our new cave dwelling.”

Sally laughed as well. “Good job Jim. But we need a different name for our new home. Cave dwelling sounds too primitive.”

“How about catacombs?” Doug said from the control room.

“Stop it,” Sally replied.

Jim’s elation couldn’t be dented. “Team, assemble in my quarters for a celebration in twenty minutes. Get cleaned up and bring your appetite.” He turned and winked at Sally. The away teams were designated to get the last of the supply pod food — the last of the earth food. Jim planned to enjoy it with his team.

As Jim and his team departed the hangar, Doug reported on pressure. “The Manufacturing Pod’s up to 650 Torr. I sure hope we’re not wasting our air.”

Thad’s away team arrived soon after Jim’s. Sally heard them roll up and again, saw the load lock depressurize. When Jim and his team entered, only the small person hatch was opened. Since Thad rolled up in the moon buggy the large garage sized door opened to vacuum to allow for the large vehicle to enter. Putting most of the lock to vacuum was an action they took with extreme caution prior to the pod crash.

Such a large opening could depressurize the hangar so fast that those in the hangar and control room would be killed in milliseconds. Sally remembered that, previously, they had donned spacesuits before allowing the moon buggy to enter the hangar. When did that change? There was too much at stake to be taking these risks. She made a mental note to ask Mark to reinstitute the safeguards. There was going to be a lot more buggy entries to the hangar before the caves would be ready.

Thad and his team weren’t on the emotional high of Jim’s team. They’d excavated the med-bay for equipment and they’d also uncovered Doctor McCarthy and the five that were killed during the pod crash.

Sally groaned at the hissing sounds of the pneumatic actuators opening the buggy-sized hatch to the hangar. She felt her stomach knot. Thad and his team drove buggy and trailer into the hangar and, the moment they cleared the seal, she pushed the button to close the large hatch. The garage-sized door slid down and sealed shut with a satisfying pop.

Thad got his helmet off and looked to Sally. “Is everything all right? I didn’t think you were still on shift.”

“Everything’s fine. I finished my shift pass-down with Doug and helped Jim get his team’s suits to the cleaning station.”

“I saw the tube. Jim and his team did good work.” Thad and his team extracted themselves from their spacesuits. “We got the top med-bay items from Zeke’s priority list — two drug packs, three advanced sensor kits, the boxed surgery kit, the large autoclave, and two examination beds.”

Sally looked at the equipment in the full trailer and nodded. “We should store all this in Habitation Tube Three once we get your suits.”

“Yeah, that’s another thing. My suit developed a slow breach that I had to spray seal closed. When we shovel and move moon dust and rocks by hand, we really do a number on our spacesuit material.”

“That’s why we need the Manufacturing Pod — we need to come up with an alternative.”